Spent most of my time with Tim and Nicole this past weekend. They were visiting from West Point. After doing some touring on Sunday, I did get to install the battery while they were taking a nap. That was probably the least painful part of the build so far. I guess I didn't realize how much fitting, cutting and grinding is involved with this project.

TIME: 1 hour

July 4, 2001:

Since the 4th of July ended up in the middle of the week, we only had one day off. I didn't feel like fighting crowds to watch the fireworks so I ended up working on the car most of the day. Today I was able to change out the pinion seal from the rear end. I purchased an impact wrench to remove the pinion nut. I really love my air tools! Following the Chilton's manual, I changed out the seal and reinstalled a new pinion nut. I later discovered that I must have done something wrong because the axle doesn't turn anymore. I think I may have tightened the nut without something seating right.

Today I also installed the last rear drum brake and cut the tie rod ends to make the steering rack fit properly. The length of the tie rods and ends are too long and cause the spindles to not align properly.

TIME: 6 hours

July 5, 2001:

Decided today to outsource some of my labor. I called around to find someone to inspect my transmission to make sure that I won't have any problems later. AAMCO will tear it down for $50 and apply the cost to any repairs that are needed. I was planning on tearing it down myself but I think I would feel more comfortable with having a professional look at it.

I also decided to bite the bullet and have the rear end gear changed out. I figure that it would be better to have some 3.55 gears installed and have all of the seals and bearings replaced now than doing it later. Also this should fix anything that I might have messed up with my repair attempt as described above!

I got some refererrals for people who can do it locally. I'm looking at dropping a little over $400 for the parts and labor. I think that is a great price as compared to what I've seen other people pay.

July 8, 2001:

Headed up to Ft Belvoir to attend the Army Force Management course for 4 weeks.

July 14,15, 2001:

Decided to return back to the house to take care of some things with the car and also the yard. I ended up getting a lot done on the front end this weekend. I packed the bearings for the brand new front disk brakes that I bought at Advanced Auto. This process reminded me of how the crewchiefs cleaned and packed the hangar bearings for the tail rotor driveshaft on the helicopters.

I also got the correct calipers for the front brakes. Advanced Auto had originally given me rear disk brakes. (I was wondering why the hose fittings didn't match!)

July 21,22, 2001:

Returned back to the house this weekend with Neil and Dawn to take them to the beach. The waves were breaking pretty good on Saturday. We also went to Busch Gardens on Sunday.